Wednesday, September 30

 Hi parents,

We had a pretty good day today although the afternoon was a bit rough. It gave us an opportunity to revisit our conversations from earlier about the type of place that school should be. The kids were very respectful and thoughtful during this discussion and I'm confident we can make sure tomorrow is a great day!

In the morning, we talked about Orange Shirt Day, of course. I was very impressed by how well the students were able to answer my questions about why we celebrate orange shirt day, what the term 'First Nations' means, and the difference between Calgary and Canada. I can tell many students had some great conversations with parents at home. :) 

We went outside for our nature walk, and I've got to say - it's amazing to see how much the students' perceptions of outside time has changed since the start of the year. When we started doing nature walks at the start of September, the kids couldn't wait to be done the 'learning' portion so they could play on the playground. But now, even after the lessons are done, I've noticed more and more kids choosing to stay in the field and look at pinecones, leaves, tree roots, birds.... It's awesome! What's even more exciting is that they've started asking more questions, and making predictions about the natural world without even being prompted. 

On our walk today, we talked about different words we can use to describe 'colours'. For instance, words like 'bright', 'dark', 'light', 'pale', 'dull'. According to the science curriculum, the main ones we are supposed to focus on in Grade 1/2 are 'light' and 'dark'. So if your child is already able to distinguish between 'dark red' and 'light red', they're off to an amazing start.

We did a word brainstorming activity that is connected to an upcoming assembly. The students were shown three pictures, and had to think of words that described each one. Tomorrow, we'll arrange the words in some kind of order, thus creating a poem. I'm hoping it will seem like a poem anyway.

The issues we encountered this afternoon were mostly caused by students not being kind to one another. It seemed to all happen during recess too - there was more "telling on" after today's recess than we had during the entire last week! As a class, we talked about ways that we would like to be treated, and ways that we would not like to be treated. It seemed like everyone was on the same page about what constitutes 'unkind' behaviour. I think often, students get caught up in the idea of 'fault' and lose sight of their own actions. If someone else initiates what they see as unkind behaviour, it seems to justify more unkindness. I think what happened today at recess is a very normal, and important part of being in school, and I hope the class can learn from it. 

Have a nice night!

Zac